A Daimyo's Tale
by Sivaatasi
Summary: It is said that the heavens openly wept when the great Uzumaki Clan was shattered, their remnants swept from the earth in a tide of blood, tears, and fear. Of the hundreds that once thrived, only a handful scattered to the four winds survived the horrors of that day but what is the Will of Fire when compared to the Strength of the Kraken? Strong Naruto, AU fanfic.


**A/N:** This story has been rolling around in my head for at least two years. Oddly enough I thought it would have been fleshed out and overdone much like all of the other tropes and plot hooks in the Narutoverse. Low and behold, I only found two based on the "Count of Monte Cristo" story penned by French author Alexandre Dumas in the 1800s. Neither of those went beyond the first chapter (which was a shame because I found Fenerath's version compelling) so I wanted to get this story out of my brain since it's been an earworm that just won't leave.

Here is the first chapter for your consideration (I've flushed out the entire timeline) and I'm going to leave this in the hands of the fanfiction collective. Leave a review if you want me to complete the story. If you think it's a waste of time, leave a review and let me know why. As always, constructive feedback is always appreciated; senseless flamers will be appropriately filed.

_~Siva'a-tasi_

~III~

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Welcome Home**_

~III~

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto. Orphan. Village Pariah. Greatest Hokage-to-be. Second year Konoha Shinobi Academy Student with – some would argue – obvious delusions of grandeur.

All these things vaguely encompassed the bright youth sagging like a pile of road-hazard orange rags in his usual classroom seat as Yokohama-sensei droned on about Combat Mathematics, one of the subjects he oddly enough understood - despite hating the "dreaded maths" as he referred to them – with some obnoxiously loud regularity. Some would find it unusual that the class he complained about slightly less loudly than history would be the only reason he hadn't completely failed out of the academy yet.

Odd how that worked out for someone that couldn't really read having been deprived of the help to properly learn, isn't it?

Words were difficult. They had sneaky meanings and could mean different things depending on where you put them in a sentence. Plus, if you were socially awkward again because of your widely-known status as the village pariah, people avoided you depriving you of the communal experience needed to decipher when the really hard things like tone and body language gave a completely different meaning to the words you didn't already understand.

It was a vicious cycle, truly, that feasted mercilessly upon itself with only one foreseeable outcome in sight... unless you were Uzumaki Naruto and simply couldn't be bothered to plan that far ahead to notice.

Tomorrow? Pfft! The only thing he needed concern himself about tomorrow was how much awesomer he'd be by then, 'ttebayo! What use was something he couldn't see, or touch, or slurp?

Speaking of which, he was hoping today's painful lectures would end so he could worship at the Temple of Ichiraku following his next greatest artistic masterpiece.

~III~

Deep in the Land of Stone, a fellow blond stared longingly into the southern distance at a feeling of expressionistic camaraderie, his chest filling with a sense of warmth and understanding he found dearly lacking in his native land.

~III~

Where were we again? Ah, yes! Math was easy, words were hard!

Uzumaki Naruto, at the start of his second year in the academy, was having a difficult time keeping his focus on the here and now of his late morning math lesson as evident by the stunningly blue focus of his eyes on the gently waving trees outside his stuffy classroom.

Now a more self-aware person may have taken note that his particularly rare case of golden blond hair and cerulean blue eyes in Konoha were just that. A more self-aware person might have dedicated some time, especially if they were an orphan like Naruto, in finding out more about his past since the only other blond inhabitants of the major hidden village that he called home were members of a single clan, the Yamanaka. A more astute person engaging in self-reflection might have accurately concluded that their ice-blue eyes and platinum blond hair, at best, would have accounted for a very, very distant relationship if at all possibly focusing their attention elsewhere in order to solve the mystery of their origin to sate their own curiosity.

Most people would but not Naruto.

There was a time when those questions pestered him, and he asked everyone he knew what they knew about his past but that becomes a tall order when everyone you knew amounted to "the old man," the greatest ramen maker in the world, said ramen maker's daughter, and your two best friends in the whole world, who happened to be sitting in the same row as you in the class you couldn't bother paying attention in.

The old man claimed to not know and always looked sad at not being able to help more. Seeing as the old man, also known as the Third Fire Shadow of Konohagakure no Sato, had always been in his corner, Naruto really had no reason to doubt his honesty, so he'd moved on looking for his answers.

He really didn't expect the ramen maker, old man Teuchi, and his daughter, Ayame, to know who his parents were since he hadn't met them until he had been kicked out of the orphanage for being "too disruptive." They'd seen him several months after his exile, starving and filthy from living on the streets and eating out of garbage cans at the age of four. He'd been attracted by the heavenly aroma coming from the stand only to have them take pity on him, clean him up in the family dwelling atop the small shop, and stuff him full of ramen. He hadn't even noticed how the young lady slipped away after cleaning him up to inform the old man, but his pitiful life improved considerably after that.

_If not for the kindness of good people…_

He didn't like to dwell on that part of his life much choosing to focus on happier times, like when he eventually started the academy and met his two bestest friends in the whole world.

Deep pools of ocean blue water flickered suddenly from the happily chirping birds outside the classroom window taking note of the curiously intense stare from his first best friend, Hyūga Hinata. Most people in Konoha thought the pale, almost white featureless eyes of the Hyūga clan creepy despite loving the fact that her clan shared in one of the powerful dōjutsu made famous by and through their association with Konoha.

The duplicity of human nature knew no bounds but Naruto couldn't even spell duplicity. He was brutally honest with everyone, hence Hinata-chan's undying affection for him, of which he also had zero awareness of.

Poor soul.

He liked her, as she was his bestest good friend, but he couldn't relate in any other way because his emotionally stunted life wouldn't let him see her in any other way than he was capable of defining. With Naruto things were very simple; you were either a good person and he latched onto you for mutual survival or you were like the others and he avoided you like the plague.

For a silently pining Hinata, this was a withering death sentence as she'd convinced herself that her distant admiration was rapidly becoming something else. It was becoming something more and she found fewer and fewer reasons to shy away from the socially awkward (and sometimes disgusting) slob of a boy that held the keys to her gentle heart.

Naruto, on the other hand, wore his stunted emotions on his sleeves and openly shared his opinion with anyone kind and patient enough to ask - right before sitting down for a twenty minute dissertation on the ecology of their question and (invariably) why ramen was the food of the gods.

He found her eyes beautiful for the same reasons she adored his deep blue ones and had zero reservation about stating why; among all the Hyūga he'd seen, hers had a slightly deeper tint of lavender in them but, in order to notice, you had to be close enough while she was awake to have them open enough to notice the difference. Since she was getting better at keeping her head up and eyes open while staying conscious around him (poor, poor Hinata must have had a rare heart condition that caused her face to flush right before passing out all the time), Naruto found her eyes enchanting.

His Jiji always said that eyes were the window to the soul, or some such, and, if that were true, he found her soul to be gentle and pure, which made her current career choice make no sense. It made no sense, like, at all especially with her delicate heart.

One of these days he'd remember to ask her about why she wanted to be a shinobi with such a dangerous medical condition and whether or not she'd asked medical shinobi for a second opinion. That was a problem to solve for another time, however, as he ignored the questioning squint to her eyes and absent-mindedly reached down to point out a small error in her shuriken trajectory algorithm. As she scrambled to erase and correct the deficiency, his dark blue orbs casually looked past her darker blue curtain of silky hair to the absolutely pained expression of his other friend sitting next to Hinata on the far side.

Inuzuka Kiba, at first, didn't like him much. It was something Naruto could never figure out but the stubborn streak in the blond bundle of warmth ran strong. So, with great determination – and aforementioned stubbornness – Naruto over the course of the entire first year went from being Kiba's biggest pain in the rear to being Kiba's favorite distraction from classwork.

It was an improvement as far as the Uzumaki was concerned. Progress was progress.

The annoyed call of, "Mr. Uzumaki," turned his attention from the near-drooling image of Kiba, and the nin-ken whistling softly atop his spiky head in peaceful slumber, to the hip-fisted instructor standing by the chalkboard.

"Since you've already mastered this material, perhaps you'd care to come demonstrate the correct solution to chakra induced acceleration in parabolic trajectories."

Naruto's face never changed from its impassive, glazed over haze, even as his shoulders bounced once in a casual shrug.

"PSST!"

The blond paused as he stood up disguising his hesitance and quick glance down to the fuzzy Inuzuka heir with a prolonged stretch.

"Same time?" the dog-nin hissed just barely loud enough to reach even his sensitive ears.

Dragging out his journey to the front of the class, and earning a crabby "We're waiting" comment from Yokohama-sensei followed by more snickers from classmates hoping to see him fail, Naruto flails his arms subtly at the end of his stretch so that he can flash a quick "thumbs up" acknowledgment to his future pranking partner in crime. Having accomplished his hidden agenda, so begins the flat-footed (to increase the annoying sound of his academy sandals on the tiled floor) trip to the front of the classroom.

It was the least he could do since Yokohama-sensei kindly volunteered to be today's pranking victim.

Ignoring the increased snickers, his teacher's barely hidden sneer of disgust, snide mutterings, and occasional "baka" comment, he ignored the proffered piece of chalk from the taller authority figure (it wasn't really difficult to be much taller than the malnourished orphan) and snagged a fresh piece from the tray taking a few minutes to confirm what he suspected from the diagram.

"Please explain the concept of chakra acceleration as applied to the kunai used in this example."

He didn't have to turn around to see the expectant sneer on his instructor's face turn vicious. Apparently, any attempt to embarrass Naruto was a chance to relish at the academy.

"Well, sensei…" the chalk piece touched the board with a dry _CLACK_, "what you've asked me to explain looks a lot like the stuff you said we'd cover next week."

His chalk piece was lingering near a picture of a chibi shinobi in a runner's position moving along the ground in a straight line.

"What you have on the board refers to lateral acceleration of an object over flat ground. This vector array," he pointed to the large straight line ending in an arrow in front of the running figure, "is saying his motion is in this direction affected by the amount of chakra the shinobi uses over time disregarding both the coefficient of friction and gravity's effect on an object in motion."

Behind him the instructor's triumphant sneer was slowly melting into concern even as his snickering class of students, with several notable exceptions, were slowly dropping open their jaws in surprised confusion.

Naruto drew another chibi shinobi beneath it standing still with one arm extended as if he'd thrown something, one arrow pointing across the board stopping at a large "X" and a second arrow shooting up into the air at the beginning of a large arc.

"That's better. Now the problem makes sense." With that, he began scribbling figures and numbers on the board as students behind him began frantically flipping through pages in their textbooks to find the right section.

"Now that this is correct, we need to find the initial amount of force the kunai following this path over time as affected by gravity and distance." Naruto reached over and randomly selected a figure from a group written vertically on the side of the chalk board, numbers Yokohama had introduced two weeks before as widely accepted representations of the amount of force gained by applying standard amounts of chakra based on jutsu levels, i.e., "An F or E-ranked jutsu used this amount of chakra and that equated to fifteen Newtons of equivalent force."

Slashing numbers in the equations he'd slapped onto the board, Naruto quickly worked through the mathematical formulae based on his assumption of a D-ranked chakra burst applied to the throw solving for V-sub-theta assuming the final distance would be the next part of the problem and not needed for this particular first stage.

With the satisfied _CLACK_ of his chalk to the tray, he turned to look up at the instructor even as his hands slapped the extra chalk powder from his fingers. He knew what the outcome of his rare display of intellect would be even before Yokohama-sensei's baffled stare at the board (while he tried vainly to debunk the demon child's solution) turned into red-faced outrage.

"OUT! GET OUT OF MY CLASS UZUMAKI _AND REPORT TO THE HEADMASTER!_"

With another casual shrug and a wave to the two people that acknowledged his existence, Naruto shoved his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts and strolled unhurriedly from the class trading one hateful authority figure for another – who would no doubt expel him for the day giving him enough time to prepare the materials needed for his prank of choice.

True to form, he found himself exiting the building ten minutes later wandering off to find his hidden stash of pranking implements while he waited for Kiba to meet him in one of the little used parks not far from the academy.

He wasn't stupid enough to trust the dog nin with the location of his stash. That would be just plain reckless.

'_Now, how best to make the underhanded bastard pay, hmm?'_

The sounds deep in a dingy alley of a garbage can lid being knocked over as two alley cats fought over scraps gave him the perfect idea.

Kiba didn't make it as planned but he wasn't always able to sneak away and join Naruto in his pranking escapades. As a result, he had to really hustle to get things set up by the time classes let out for the day just barely ducking out a window and along a side alley as shinobi started turning up in a certain apartment building. Ignoring his added difficulty of blending in while enveloped in constitution-shocking orange, setting up the afternoon's entertainment before people began flocking to their homes in preparation for a relaxing evening with family had been especially challenging.

But if it was one thing Uzumaki Naruto enjoyed it was a proper challenge even if being vindictive meant not ruining other people's evenings with loved ones.

He didn't begrudge them the opportunity to do so, as that would be petty. Just because his life was void of familial love and affection didn't mean he'd hold that against others, even the miserable creatures that spent their time ignoring and/or holding his existence against the entire human race.

Why let them win? Why stoop to their level? Wasn't that the lesson his Jiji tried to impart every day? Lazing about in the agreed upon spot beneath a much smaller imitation of Hi no Kuni's leafy landscape, he tried to dredge up one of the Old Man's regular mantras to leading a good life.

'_Fall down seven times, get up eight.'_

Yeah, that sounded about right.

"Kami! What bucket a' stink did you fall into?"

For his troubles, Kiba earned a swat on the arm from Hinata but there wasn't much heat to it. If she'd wanted to injure or punish him, she'd have closed a tenketsu or four to get the point across.

"Heh, let's just say that you not being able to sneak away during lunch saved you from sharing in the fish party."

Both of their faces scrunched up unhappily, but Naruto couldn't blame them; he was the one that smelled as if he'd fallen headfirst into a fish market.

It was so bad that both clan heirs sat a good distance upwind from him.

"I just left a proper thank you for Yokohama-sensei after his wonderful lecture today, nothing more." Naruto's face-splitting grin nearly glowed in the setting light of day and they both recognized that grin.

"_NARUUUTOOOOOOOOOOO! ACHOOOO!"_

All three shot amused glances down the street to The Sheltered Arms, Konoha's premiere housing standups for career Genin and Chunin of the Corps.

Kiba and Naruto both could hear additional cursing due to better than normal hearing but it didn't help that they had a clear view of a certain apartment on the third floor as a herd of cats scampered down the fire escape after what appeared to be fish being chucked from the window. The arms flinging fish periodically flickering out through the glass paused every other throw as the attached body convulsed with another violent sneeze.

"Oh, man! That's brutal, Ruto. You know he's deathly allergic to cats, right?"

The Blond Terror (as he hadn't been promoted to the Prankster King yet) merely shrugged indifferently. "He made his choice."

Naruto knew that his Hime didn't approve of his vengeful proclivities, but she wouldn't overly chastise him. She'd learned of the village-wide campaign of discrimination and harassment against her secret crush and just how limited his options at retaliation were.

Her clan may make her life hell, true, but they'd roast and spit, on her behalf, anyone not of the clan attempting to do the same. Naruto had no one in his corner.

Another horrified scream, followed by several rapid-fire sneezes, broke the tension sending all three of them into giggling fits but another long night of talking, laughing and hanging out was not meant to be.

"Hinata-sama," a much older voice called out bringing their merriment up short.

"Coming, Ko-san!" She rose to pat his shoulder but thought twice about it, her fingers delicately reaching up to pinch her nose.

"It's okay, Hina-hime. I understand." He enjoyed the way her cheeks flushed even if it didn't happen as often nor as brightly now. The past year had been good for her. "See you tomorrow!" he called after her fleeing back.

'_It won't be long now,_' Naruto thought as he watched her gracefully glide away in her parka-sized overcoat. True to form, almost as if it was scripted…

"Well, I'd better head home for grub, Ruto."

He hated the nickname but keeping quiet allowed him another voice in his life, so he dawned the face smile of his mask and waved farewell to the dog nin he knew barely tolerated him. Once again, he was all alone, just another orphan trying to live his best shinobi life in Konoha.

'_Never let them see you hurt, dattebayo! If they see it's working, they just keep it up, but I can outlast them any day! Anything to reach the top and I never go back on my word!'_

The forceful isolation stung though, and he'd be honest enough to admit that to himself. It was unsurprising that a seven-year-old couldn't see the hopeful light at the end of the tunnel when every day in between was smothering his heart in the scummy darkness of loneliness.

'_Nothing a good dose of Ichiraku's can't cure!'_ Standing up from the cooling grass, Naruto gave a hearty slap to his empty belly.

"Academy Student Uzumaki Naruto! Stay right where you are!"

The wave of terror that washed over him managed to freeze the orphan in place even as his eyes darted around to find the source of the muffled voice ordering him to stay put. Cerulean Blue met with porcelain white and he knew he was in trouble.

"Wow, I didn't think I'd get in this much trouble over a couple fish and some stray cats, 'ttebayo."

Faster than you could shout, "HOKAGE!" he found himself restrained in high-grade ninja wire with chakra restraining seals slapped directly to his forehead. The weakness that immediately followed nearly sent him to lullaby land but the adrenaline kept him barely cognizant. In due order, he'd been slung over the shoulder of a burly ANBU wearing a boar's mask and the world blurred into rampant nausea.

Kami he hated being carried in a [_Body Flicker_]. Sometimes he thought the ANBU agents sent to retrieve him when the Chunin couldn't secretly enjoyed making him sick that way.

None of them were laughing today and he couldn't help but shiver when wondering why.

He felt numb mentally, almost like he was floating through the air as light flashed past his eyes. Nothing worked. Nothing responded and the wires were biting uncomfortably into his skin, perhaps the only thing helping to keep him in the moment as it were.

Muffled voices surrounded him even as the surprisingly quiet people standing stock still in the streets stared at him in abject terror. It would be a mental image he'd never forget unlike the daily dose of disdain they heaped upon him. Even though his vision blurred repeatedly, there were moments of obscene clarity sufficient enough to burn the random face or two into his memory.

Revulsion stared back at him. They were terrified of _the demon_.

The open airy feel of the great outdoors soon gave way to the over-processed hum of air conditioners and office fans. The walls seemed to close in on him, but he recognized the smell of the Administrative Offices of the Hokage. _'Good, Hokage-Jiji will know what's going on. He'll fix this.'_

The light grew marginally brighter, enough that he struggled to raise his head only to meet the unemotional mask of a purple haired ANBU bearing her own set of painted whiskers. Neko.

It was a mask he'd seen several times a week for the past few years. It was a mask he trusted implicitly but this time he could feel the despair rolling off her and, for the first time since this crazy ride began, he knew fear.

"I… didn't… do-."

Whatever frantic plea he was going to send ended with the backhand from another operative to his right, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth and silencing his train of lackluster thought. He didn't have the energy to protest his abuse, but he did see his attacker sent through the nearest wall by his former cat-faced protector.

Some small consolation there but at least she was fair, perhaps one of the few that afforded him the opportunity for a weak smirk. _'Small victories…'_

By now his head was spinning with all the rapid movement and elevation changes up until the point the carpeted floor rushed up to greet him, harshly. He landed roughly, a grunt of pain ripped from his body as a foot landed on the small of his back, adding another dimension to his already uncomfortable experience, but, almost as quickly as the sandaled weapon landed on his spine was it taken away washed along by the rolling waves of _Killing Intent_ from somewhere ahead of them.

He discovered its source once firm-but-gentle hands helped him to his knees so that he could recognize the stern face of his Hokage, his spine ramrod straight behind his seat at the head of the Council table, while gazing down furiously at his cowering ANBU agents.

"I'm sorry, Naru-chan," Neko's softly whispered into his ear even as she wiped away his blood with a cloth of some kind. He simply accepted it, possibly her last act of kindness, with a weak nod and a smile.

The stern rapping of a gavel on metal caught his attention even as it began some sort of proceeding. He suddenly knew where he was and, in his helpless state, could only stare up in muted shock at the one person he believed would always be there to defend him. He was helpless before the Council currently presided over by his beloved Jiji, the Old Man better known as the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

Oddly enough, not every member of the Council hated him, not like he'd been led to believe. Even on the Civilian side, he could recognize looks of sympathy and sadness among them. Oh, there were of course the angry faces of people that wanted him dead, but more than a few pleaded on his behalf stating that his unfortunate behavior was a result of the horrible treatment suffered by the small-minded people of the village.

Even in his chakra-addled state he recognized how demeaning their comments were. He wasn't some animal unable to control himself and he wasn't some sociopathic monster out to feast on their children. He was Uzumaki Naruto gorammit!

Of course, he was unable to affect any of it. He couldn't even kneel upright without Neko's subtle help, so he instead focused what little energy he had towards following along.

Arguments began to flow, some demanding he be executed, others demanding that he be exiled or imprisoned though they were the distinct minority. One, a man wrapped mostly in bandages, argued that his training program would have prevented this entire nightmare and that the weapon should be rendered into his immediate care for "reintegration."

Then they started talking about victims, young victims.

While the victims were nameless orphans, it was not too late to correct the villages horrible decisions regarding the Yondaime's weapon before things escalated.

Escalated? _Escalated?! _

Whatever that meant Naruto knew enough to realize that he wanted no part of it. That, however, left the equally undesired result of being beheaded before the village as a monster, something he preferred to avoid at all costs.

Apparently they felt he _was_ some sort of monster after their children.

Then things took an interesting turn for the worse when the Council began to present evidence uncovered supposedly in his apartment. Funny how he didn't recognize any of it seeing as how it had all been supposedly found beneath the floorboards of his ratty bedroom.

It was bullshit and his face twisted up in outrage – because that was all he could muster the strength for – did little to stop the on-going lies, lies that only got worse once Kiba was dragged into the room by the hands of another Inuzuka woman, most likely his mom, to stand next to him.

"Go ahead, Kiba. Tell 'em what you told me," she ordered him, and Naruto saw him briefly glance sideways to briefly meet eyes almost in apology.

'_No!'_ It was a silent plea even as something hot began to boil deep in his gut. It only grew worse once a bunch of unbelievable crap started to pour out of Kiba's mouth about how he'd never been sneaking out to do pranks with the class screwup. How he couldn't possibly have been able to account for Naruto's absences as he'd dutifully been in school during the chunks of time they'd been ripping and running the streets and, worst of all, how Naruto had tried to tempt him with the trophies of previous victims much to his innocent horror.

The few angry Civilian Council members raged at his obvious guilt and once again demanded the boy's head as a prize even as the shock of his betrayal began to sap what little strength remained in already bound limbs. Yet again, that hot liquid began to churn in his gut giving just a touch of strength back.

It took the Hokage a few moments to quiet the mob clamoring for his death threatening to remove them from the chamber if they didn't control themselves. Naruto almost wept tears of thanks when he then turned on the flinching dog nin asking him why he hadn't come forward before another innocent had been claimed, a four-year-old orphan girl found in a dumpster surprisingly not far from Yokohama-sensei's apartment.

He barely registered Kiba's weak ass pleas of being afraid of him, afraid of becoming the next victim, and that the only reason Hinata spoke in his defense was because fear of his power held her in Naruto's thrall. At this point, he didn't even care that Kiba was trying to shrink away from the attention as he spouted lie after damning lie.

The disgusted sneer of the dog-nin's mother didn't faze him.

The disgusted and disappointed looks of the Council members lining the room didn't faze him.

He only wanted the answer to one question and into the somber silence of the chamber as those present lamented the demon's evil, Naruto croaked it out with hatred burning in his eyes.

"…Why?"

It was just barely above a whisper but it was enough to make the traitor flinch and the rest of the shocked adults in the room grow very still, each one surprised that he had the energy to even speak knowing that the number of seals on the boy's body should have made him barely conscious and unable to even mutter intelligently in his own defense. An angry voice in the back of Naruto's mind howled at the injustice even as he locked eyes with the filthy traitor and refused to look away.

His answer only served to further infuriate the prisoner as he replied, "It's complicated."

It was then that the burning acid in Naruto's stomach began to rage, the heat of it growing as he felt it pulse behind his eyes much to the shock, and surprisingly fear, of the two Inuzuka bastards standing next to him. It wasn't their actions that sent the boy into the hateful oblivion of rage and betrayal.

No, oddly enough it was the Hokage's plea for leniency for the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

Every face turned to gawk at the tear stained visage of the village leader, his eyes refusing to look up and meet the incredulous blue ones glaring back at him nor anyone else's. Naruto recognized that Neko's hands tightened painfully on his small shoulders, but he couldn't utter a sound of protest.

That burning sensation he'd felt behind his eyes was now erupting all across his body and, faintly in the back of his enraged mind, Naruto recognized the smell of paper burning right before something slammed down on the back of his neck and darkness claimed all sight while hostile people debated his future.

~III~

Kiba was nervous and growing more nervous by the second standing outside the front gates of the Hyuuga estate. At the best of times, the guards regarded him little better than a mongrel sniffing for scraps.

Tonight they were on high guard and taking no chances if the extra guards at the gate and the three patrols he'd seen passing by behind the wrought iron portcullis were any indication. Despite an Inuzuka clan member standing two quick steps behind him at his mother's insistence, he was feeling a bit panic-stricken himself.

_'They said he'd be helpless, sealed up and so drugged he wouldn't be able to talk!'_

He was spiraling. Not only had the dobe kept pace with the conversation, he'd probably picked up that Kiba was in on it. That was not okay, not okay at all! Especially when that blood red chakra started bubbling out of his pores.

Every instinct Kiba had screamed at him to flee from the Alpha, the apex predator supposedly helpless on the floor next to him.

Kaa-chan snatched him out of there before he could respond but the image of all those paper tags shriveling up into ash across Naruto's body would forever be burned in his mind. And her? He'd never seen her so terrified before. She put the compound on lock-down the moment they got back but he needed to talk with Hinata. The girl needed to know and he needed her to hear it from him.

His mother firmly disagreed. She'd let him go after the _demon _was transferred to prison, which had been the final compromise.

Their argument at that point, despite the normal tendency for Inuzuka's to fight like, well... like dogs, had been one for the ages. She'd gotten so angry that his mom actually knocked him to the ground... _twice!_... but even that didn't deter him.

He threatened to escape if the clan tried to hold him back. His need was that important and, since no one would tell him why they feared the dobe of his class, he saw no reason to yield.

So, here he was standing (several bruises and an hour later) outside the compound of the most powerful clan in the village as they went through a similar lock-down process waiting to talk to the most important girl of his life dreading every moment of the wait.

Eventually she did show (trailed by her father and a dozen Hyuugas in full battle gear), the sight of which made him gulp nervously. The fact that the gate didn't open and she didn't step through to speak to him did not bode well.

"Despite my reservations at your insensitive request, you have five minutes, young man. I suggest you get to the point."

Kiba gulped as he half-nodded/ half-bowed to the stern-faced clan leader. "This is kind of personal. Is there any way we could-."

His second request of the night never finished its trail of thought.

"Why would I ever trust you after what you did tonight?"

He was confused at that. She wasn't even in the chamber when all that happened and his confusion must have been the most basic thing for the "All-Seeing-Eye" clan to pick up on.

"I told my daughter what transpired in the chamber tonight. Unlike other families, we use chamber sessions as a teaching moment."

His heart plummeted.

"I need you to know," he paused as the words died a slow death in his mouth, "no, I need you to understand why."

He put all of his emotions into his eyes. They valued the eyes, didn't they? Perhaps she'd understand if he just-.

She spoke for the final time and it hurt so, so much.

"Betrayer, there is nothing I need nor want to understand about you."

As she spun on her heels to disappear deeper into her fortress-like compound, Kiba felt his entire world crumble down around his head. What was worse was that as his unrequitted love abandoned him, his clanmen, who had been paying close attention to what was transpiring, dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder snapping him out of his destructive funk with an even more depressing, "We need to talk about loyalty and what it means to the pack, nephew."

Kiba cursed his life for the rest of the night.

~III~

I awoke to the gentle swaying of a small boat and the smell of fresh sea air. That all-encompassing weakness was gone, and I had some access to my chakra, if only a little. It wasn't enough though, not like I normally felt, and my head was pounding.

With a groan, I sat up only for firm hands to land on both my shoulders keeping me in place with my body facing forward. Perhaps it was so I couldn't turn around. Perhaps it was so I couldn't flee. At this point, I no longer cared.

_He knew._ The entire time I'd begged and pleaded with him, _he knew who my father was!_

The pain of betrayal by Kiba had given way to the simmering hatred of betrayal by the man I loved most of all. He was my Jiji. He was my family. Aside from the ANBU gloves I recognized pinning my shoulders down, I could have cared less what or who was behind me. There was nothing left for me in back that way and I had nothing to say to them anyway.

Ahead of me, a slab of jagged rock rose high above the choppy water that rocked the boat we were riding in. It didn't matter what kind of boat it was as all I could see were the faces of the four rowers and the stone fortress resting hundreds of feet above us with a sense of foreboding I'd never felt before.

There were no stairs that I could see along the shore. It was almost as if the rock had been raised from the very water with vertical sides with many jagged edges and ledges to discourage unwanted visitors. Apparently, the cavern at the water's surface was our way in since the boat was being unerringly steered that way and that oppressive air began to settle slowly onto my shoulders the closer we got.

The crewman rowing the boat recognized my awake status and began chuckling, their rotten teeth gleaming sickly in the midday sun.

"Welcome to Chosu Prison, the last home you'll ever see."

Their cackling laughter did not make him feel very welcomed.

~III~


End file.
